Mechanical agricultural harvesting equipment has existed for centuries but there is a continuing need to increase the efficiency of harvesting. This means that a particular machine should be able to harvest over a greater span of crop rows, whether it be crops like corn or soybeans and the like. Combines have been developed to the point where they are multipurpose and can be used for a variety of crop materials. The crop harvesting mechanism can extend laterally for significant distances. While this provides efficiency in the harvesting process, the material thus harvested and processed must be unloaded to mobile grain carts and then to other machines for delivery to the ultimate destination. The grain carts typically have a capacity up to 2-3 times the capacity for the grain tank in the combine. As a result, they have substantial weight and require a tractor or other vehicle transporting them to be substantially in line with the cart itself and have sufficient power. As a result, the lateral extension of the harvesting mechanism on the combine requires that a significantly elongated lateral unloading device be provided with the combine with its attendant problems of reliability and control. The reason for this is that the tractor is in front of the grain cart and the grain cart cannot be deployable significantly behind the combine mechanism.
What is needed in the art, therefore, is an efficient mechanism for unloading combines of substantial capacity that eliminates the need for extended and elongated lateral combine unloading devices.